When I’m on stage, doing my motivational speaker thing, I can address a group of thousands of people and feel assured that I know what I’m doing. I’m comfortable. I’m confident. I’m happy.
As the SAME human being, standing in front of my new fax/scanner/printer/dishwasher/teeth-flosser combo, I’m a blithering idiot. What’s with all those ridiculous options? What happened to “put in the paper on the top of the machine and hit GO?” Grrrrrr. It’s enough to make me cranky.
And it COULD have made me cranky, were it not for this commitment I made a long long time ago to FIND THE FUNNY in life, where ever and whenever I could. Such was the case with said fax/scanner/printer/dishwasher/teeth-flosser machine.
There I stood in front of the machine, doing my best impression of a grown-up when my funny husband walked in to the room.
John: “Honey, what’s the problem?”
Me: “I put in the paper but I don’t see any GO buttons! The only thing lit up is the power button!”
John: “Okay, if you don’t see anything lit up, then what should you do?” (Please note, this is the part where I would normally want to smack him. He’s SUCH a wise-ass.)
Me: After staring at the machine for about 10 seconds, I lean over and put my mouth very close to the power button and calmly say, “Hellooooooo. Anybody in there?”
Picture two adults (I use the term loosely) doubled over laughing for five full minutes..
Here’s why that choice occured to me in that moment: I grew up on I Love Lucy shows. And I LOVED how Lucy got herself into and out of situations. I LOVED how she looked at the world. So after several years of watching her antics, when things didn’t go as planned in my life I started asking myself: “In a situation like this, what would Lucy do?”
And THAT’S how I can find the funny in almost anything.
So who’s the funniest person you know? Steve Martin? Ellen Degeneres? Lucille Ball? Eddie Murphy? Whoever it is, just take a moment and try to see the world through their eyes. It will give you direct access to some pretty funny stuff.
